Sherry's Rhapsody of Life

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Sherry's Rhapsody of Life
Titles
Kanji	シェリー運命の狂詩曲
Rōmaji	Sherī Unmei no Rapusodī
Translation	Sherry, the Rhapsody of Fate
VIZ Title	Sherry's Rhapsody of Life
Information
Season	1
Episode #	12
Arc	Encounter Arc
Chapter(s)	54, 55
Releases
Japan	May 28, 2005
English	June 22, 2003
EPISODE GUIDE
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Sherry's Rhapsody of Life (シェリー運命の Sherry, the Rhapsody of Fate) is the twelfth episode of the Zatch Bell! anime.

Synopsis

Sherry and Brago are in a forest searching for a Mamodo and its partner. While there, Sherry reminisces about the past. In the past, Sherry is going to congratulate her friend Koko when she finds that Koko's city is on fire. Searching the city, she finds Koko brainwashed by the Mamodo Zofis. In the present time, Sherry and Bargo engage in battle with the Mamodo they were searching for. Just then Sherry collapses from exhaustion. Sherry dreams about the time Koko saved her when she tried to commit suicide and how Koko afterwards became her first and best friend. Sherry regains consciousness and uses her new spell "Ion Gravirei" to defeat the Mamodo pair. She collapses soon afterwards with a fever.

Full Summary

In the middle of a dark tunnel, a young Sherry cries alone until she sees her best friend, Koko. Sherry asks Koko where the way out of this dark tunnel is, to which Koko responds that she doesn’t know either. Sherry continues to cry, afraid they’ll never escape the darkness. Koko stands and holds out her hand, saying they’ll walk and eventually find happiness at the end of the tunnel together.

In the present day on a Sunday morning, Zatch eagerly wakes Kiyo early so they can train that afternoon in case they have to face an opponent as strong as Brago. As Kiyo gets out of bed, he can’t help but think about what Brago and Sherry are up to since Zatch just mentioned them.

Meanwhile in the middle of the Amazon, Brago faces off against a large alligator and defeats it with a single blow. While waiting for Brago, Sherry sits alone, contemplating in front of a small fire and thinking about Koko. Brago returns with the alligator he killed for them to eat. The sight of it scares Sherry at first, but they proceed to eat anyway. Brago criticizes her for not eating it raw like him, claiming she’ll get more energy that way. Sherry dismisses this and points out she wanted fish instead of an alligator. Brago tells her to eat to keep her energy up.

In the meantime, Kiyo and Zatch end up at a sushi restaurant as part of their “training,” where Zatch spends most of his time devouring all the yellowtail sushi they have. He explains that if they’re hungry, they won’t have the energy to train. Kiyo watches as Zatch puts away dozens of plates before finally finding—and eating—an entire yellowtail fish on his own, leaving Kiyo to wonder if all mamodo can eat that much.

At the same time, Brago has consumed the entire alligator, leaving only bones. He tells Sherry that coming there to find enemies is pointless, as weaker mamodo will disappear even if they ignore them. It’s better to train and grow stronger to face the stronger ones as the battle continues. Sherry asks if he’s been avoiding weaker teams on purpose, but Brago says it’s simply been hard to find new opponents; even the weaker ones are getting stronger. Still, many are too afraid to challenge him. After Sherry finishes eating, they head deeper into the rainforest in search of their next opponent. As Brago walks ahead, he notices how much Sherry is staggering with fatigue to keep up. He thinks how inconvenient it is to be partnered with weak humans and feels confident he’d have already won alone. Despite this, he’s intrigued by Sherry’s determination to end the battle quickly, knowing she hasn’t slept in three days on their journey.

As Sherry catches up, she thinks only of Koko. In a flashback, Sherry rushes from her car to help Koko after seeing her pushed down by townspeople. Asked what happened, Koko says she was accused of stealing fruit. Before Sherry can chase them, Koko stops her, saying she’s used to being blamed and that arguing is useless—she has to focus on studying and working. Sherry reassures Koko that no matter what happens, she’ll be by her side.

Later at Sherry’s estate, she drinks tea, upset that no one sees Koko’s good qualities because she’s poor. Sherry’s butler reminds her that Koko saved her life long ago. Grateful for such a friend, Sherry asks if she’s told him the story of Koko saving her from the river she threw herself into; he replies she mentions it at least monthly and agrees Koko is wonderful. He then informs Sherry that Koko has been accepted into the university she wanted. Smiling, Sherry immediately heads out with him to tell Koko before the official notice arrives the next day.

In the car, Sherry is excited to surprise Koko—but when they reach Koko’s hometown, the entire town is engulfed in flames and Koko is nowhere to be found. Worried, Sherry runs into the town despite the fire. Deep inside, she spots a familiar figure and calls out. Koko turns, smiling, and says she caused the destruction. Holding a glowing spell book, Koko casts the first spell, Radomu. The demon beside her, Zofis, aims and destroys a building behind Sherry. Koko says the power is amazing, and with it she’ll get back at everyone who wronged her.

Sherry, confused, reminds Koko she once said she just wanted to go to university and get a good job. Coldly, Koko says she doesn’t care about those things now that she has this power; no one will hurt or mock her anymore. Despondent, Sherry says this is all wrong—she thought Koko wanted happiness. Koko gives her a blank smile and says she’s already found it. Sherry turns to Zofis, who laughs beside Koko, and demands to know what he did to her.

Zofis says he did little beyond altering Koko’s feelings—heightening her hatred and making her forget everything “pointless”—with his special power. He approaches and introduces himself, explaining that he and one hundred other demons came from another world to battle in the Human World. Each must pair with a human to fight and determine the next king of the Demon World. He describes how fun it is to manipulate the human heart. Koko originally had no interest in power or fighting, so he altered her feelings to make destruction and hurting others enjoyable.

Sherry tries to dismiss his words as lies and asks Koko again if she’d really do these things. Still smiling, Koko says it’s true—she did it all with her new power. Sherry breaks down in tears, struggling to believe it. Zofis continues: a human partner is essential in this battle, one of many rules. Koko steps forward and warns Sherry that if she tries to stop them, she’ll have to defeat her—and she won’t give up this power. Zofis’s book glows as Koko prepares to eliminate Sherry with a spell. The flashback is abruptly cut off when Brago draws Sherry’s attention to enemies trying to flee. Asked what to do, Sherry replies as always: show no mercy and destroy them along with their book.

At the park, Kiyo watches Zatch and Naomi locked in a stare-down. Kiyo asks what kind of training this is, but Zatch says he can’t avert his eyes or else. He does, and Naomi immediately chases him around the park. Kiyo sits on a bench, telling Zatch to finish by dinnertime, then enjoys the peaceful scene aside from their antics.

Back in the Amazon, Sherry and Brago begin their battle against Pokkerio and Belico by casting Reisu first. Sherry orders them to hand over their book or it will be taken by force. Belico clutches his book, refusing, explaining he’s finally become rich with it and wants even more wealth. Belico casts Juron, sending multiple large roots toward Sherry and Brago. Using Gurabirei, the downward force of gravity stops and crushes the roots, and they follow up with another Reisu. Sherry demands the book again and is refused again.

Belico then casts Barujuron, allowing Pokkerio to summon large tree warriors to attack. Soon after, they also cast Juruku, summoning dense foliage to hide within. Brago sees their intent and orders Sherry to cast Gigano Reisu to finish it quickly. When she doesn’t respond, he demands she hurry—then turns to see she has collapsed from exhaustion. As Sherry struggles to rise, Brago fights the Barujuron trees alone and even he struggles without her. Scolding her, he asks if she’s done already. Sherry forces herself up with her remaining strength, insisting the pain she feels now is nothing compared to her past.

In a flashback, a young Sherry practices piano tirelessly before her mother orders her to stop, disappointed and demanding another six hours of practice. When Sherry mentions it’s bedtime, her mother silences her, reminding her she’s a member of the prestigious Belmondo family and must not embarrass them. On another day, while Sherry struggles with math, her mother berates her for not understanding something so simple. During dance practice, Sherry falls and is met with the same disdain. Finally, her mother bluntly wonders how such a useless child could have been born.

This constant emotional abuse pushes Sherry over the edge; she begins to believe she should never have been born. In a rainstorm, she stands on a bridge, staring at the rushing water below, thinking death is her only escape. She jumps and disappears into the river. As the flashback ends, Brago is still fighting alone when Sherry rises again, reassuring him they can defeat the enemy easily without even seeing them.

In another flashback to the bridge, young Koko saved Sherry from the river. Terrified, Koko asks why she did it. Sherry quietly says living is painful. Koko asks what will happen to her happiness when she grows up if she dies now. Though life feels like walking through a dark tunnel, Koko urges Sherry to keep walking toward the light—every tunnel has an exit. She begs Sherry to live so she can find happiness later.

Sherry finds newfound determination, realizing she won’t let the demon battle steal their happiness. She realizes Koko has entered that “dark tunnel” again, but decides she’ll walk into it with her. As the Barujuron trees surround them, Sherry calls out to Koko, saying she’ll never leave her to pursue happiness alone. Her surge of emotion powers one of their newest spells, Aian Gurabirei, instantly destroying the trees. As Sherry continues to pour out power, she orders Brago to crush the surroundings with the spell, obliterating everything in a wide radius.

When the spell ends and the area is reduced to nothing, Brago finds Belico and Pokkerio half-buried and cowering, still alive. He picks up their flattened spell book and asks Sherry to help burn it. Turning back, he sees Sherry collapsed again from exhaustion, in dire need of rest. As she lies there, she recalls how Brago protected her—just as he did when they first met. In a flashback to the incident in Koko’s hometown, Koko unleashed a Radomu at Sherry to eliminate her. Koko and Zofis walked away, but within the smoke it’s revealed Sherry was unharmed. A black spell book landed before her, and the demon of that book—Brago—offered it to her so she could read it and become his human partner in the great battle.

Back on the battlefield, Brago feels Sherry’s forehead and discovers she has a fever. Annoyed, he removes his cloak and tosses it over her, then picks her up and carries her, thinking how frustrating it is to partner with weak humans in this battle.

New content shown

Characters

• Zofis and Koko
• Pokkerio and Periko

Spells

• Radom
• Ion Gravirei
• Barujuron
• Juruk

Manga & Anime Differences

• All scenes involving Zatch and Kiyo are entirely filler and were not present in the original manga chapters this episode was based on.
• Brago mentioning there are only 70 demons remaining during this time was not present in the anime adaptation of these chapters.
• In the anime, when first seeing Koko's entire hometown in flames, Sherie runs deep into the burning town on her own to look for Koko. In the manga, Koko was found just in front of her house nearby where Sherie and her butler are stopped. Sherie's butler was also present with Sherie when they first see Koko and Zofis.
• The manga depicts various minor flashback panels of Koko being a good friend to Sherie and always being there for her. These minor flashbacks were not present in the anime adaptation of these chapters.
• In the manga, Sherie and Brago eventually corner Belico and Pokkerio by cornering them against a large cliff. In the anime, Sherie and Brago never mentioned any plans to corner or trap them in any way. Instead, Belico and Pokkerio eventually just choose to fight them after being attacked with a spell first.
• In the manga, when first being surrounded by the trees summoned by Barujuron, Sherie ignores Brago's order of launching a Gigano Reisu spell and instead uses another Reisu attack. This ends up missing the enemy team and as Brago questions Sherie why she hadn't used Gigano Reisu, Sherie suddenly collapses. In the anime, Sherie never casted an additional Reisu spell and collapsed after being ordered to use Gigano Reisu.
• During various flashbacks of Sherie's childhood, in the manga, Sherie can be seen scolded by various instructors of her poor ability in different activities. Sherie's mother was not originally present in the same room as Sherie as she fails in each activity. Sherie can also be seen at one point talking to her mother about how difficult it's been for her but her complaints are eventually disregarded. In the anime, Sherie's mother can be seen trying to instruct her with each of these activities.
• In the manga, one of the activities Sherie can be seen participating in is martial arts. In the anime, Sherie was never seen engaging in martial arts practice but can be seen instead trying to solve math problems.

Localization Differences

• Mentions, suggestions, and depictions of suicide attempts were all either censored or removed in the VIZ localization of the series.
• When speaking with her butler, Sherie mentions she 'fell' into the river instead of saying she threw herself into it.
• Scenes that show Sherie jumping from the bridge and falling into the water were all entirely removed.
• When Koko had saved Sherry from drowning, Sherry tries to explain that she wasn't paying attention to the fact that the bridge was slippery when she fell into it from standing on the edge.
• Several scenes that were originally intended to remain briefly silent were instead dubbed over to add additional minor dialogue.
• When Zofis first introduces himself to Sherie, he gives a fairly brief but concise breakdown of the battle to decide king before going on to explain why he manipulated Koko's heart. In the VIZ localization, Zofis only tells Sherie his name and how he's going to become king. This leaves the rest of the scene focusing on Sherry's reaction being awkwardly silent.

Gallery

Sherry sad by fire

Zatch holding Yeallowtail

Sherry Rhapsody

Kokos Town Burning

Koko Saving Sherry

Koko And Zofis

Koko After Being Bullied.

Trivia

Episode Guide